Condemned By Betrayal (Condemned #2)

Prologue

Elowen

I place the bouquet on the table and walk to the hospital bed. I sit down on the chair beside it.

“How are you feeling today?” My voice is exhausted. It’s been two weeks since I’ve gotten more than a few hours of sleep a night.

“Better than yesterday,” Antonio answers, just as tired. “Did they find him?”

I shake my head. His face falls further.

It’s been two weeks since I discovered his betrayal, nine days since I found out he’s missing, and a whole week since I learned he tried to kill himself before he vanished.

His men attacked the SUV that my father’s men were using to take him to the place where he’d planned to keep him.

With their help, he went back to Greenland and tried to end his life.

Antonio found him just in time. He’d lost too much blood by the time his doctor arrived, but his man Robin gave him his own blood and saved his life.

But then, while Salvario lay unconscious in the mansion’s hospital room, it was attacked.

All of his men, including Robin, died in that assault.

Antonio was also shot, but he was rescued by my father’s men, who had followed Salvario to Greenland.

When they arrived, however, they didn’t find him.

Now my dad is doing everything in his power to find him. So far, no clue has turned up.

I was shattered, thinking he’d betrayed me. But then Antonio told me how he’d been tormented by his dissociative identity. Dad didn’t believe him at first, but then he interrogated Salvario’s psychiatrist, who told him everything in detail. Now my father understands why he did it.

But I don’t understand why he didn’t tell me about it.

I want to ask him why he never told me he was fighting with himself. His psychiatrist said there was no way to deal with that boy without harming Salvario, but even if that was the case, he could have told me. I don’t know if we would have won, but I would have fought with him.

He could have told me he was tired. I would have fought alone for him. But instead, he decided to end his life.

I want to hold him and tell him I would never have put that condition on him, that he had to give up his revenge, if I’d known what he was going through.

But I can’t do any of this, because he’s gone now.

“He isn’t dead,” I mutter.

Antonio stares at me, then nods. “He isn’t dead.”

Neither of us is convinced by the words that came out of our mouths.

I blink back the tears gathering in my eyes. I rise from the chair. If I stay here, I’ll only worsen Antonio’s condition, since he’s still recovering.

“I’ll come see you tomorrow,” I manage, forcing a smile.

He nods.

I leave the room, and as soon as the door closes behind me, the tears fall.

Dad rises from the couch he was sitting on outside Antonio’s ward. He always comes with me when I visit him.

He comes to me. I hug him tightly. He strokes my hair.

“Please, Dad, find him.”

“I will, Princess. Didn’t I promise you? No matter what it takes, I’ll find him. Don’t cry.”

I pull back. He wipes my cheeks.

“It’s been so many days, and we don’t even have a clue.”

“It takes time, Princess,” he coaxes. “When you were kidnapped, we couldn’t find you for eleven days.”

Once again, his words put my mind at ease.

“How do you know he’s still alive?” I need him to give me a reason so I don’t spiral.

“Whoever abducted him wants him alive, or they would have killed him at the mansion.”

I nod.

He caresses my hair. “Don’t think about the worst. We’ll find him. I have to make him beg for your forgiveness, how can I let him die in peace before that?”

I chuckle.

He smiles.